Have to admit that this has been a weird Saturday. No basketball games or football games all day. I basically have either been watching or attending games for every Saturday since September.
Today, I’ve been spending time with my family. Beginning work on the ridiculous number of projects around the house. God, it sucked.
Coach Jamie Dixon did not win the AP Coach of the Year. As expected that went to Jim Boeheim. He did, however, collect the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year.
Named after legendary Mount St. Mary’s head coach Jim Phelan, who won over 800 games and coached in more contests than any in college basketball history, the award is presented annually to the top coach in America by CollegeInsider.com. The honor is voted upon by a distinguished group of coaches, media members and athletic administrators.
Dixon, who has been listed as a finalist for virtually every national coach of the year honor, was also named the CollegeInsider.com Big East Coach of the Year. Other finalists for the Jim Phelan Award were Steve Alford (New Mexico), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), John Calipari (Kentucky), Steve Donohue (Cornell), Fran Dunphy (Temple), Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa), mid-season honoree Frank Martin (Kansas State), Chris Mooney (Richmond), Matt Painter (Purdue), Bo Ryan (Wisconsin), Bill Self (Kansas), Brad Stevens (Butler), Mark Turgeon (Texas A&M) and Jay Wright (Villanova).
Previous Jim Phelan Award winners include John Calipari (Memphis, 2009), Bo Ryan (Wisconsin, 2008), Tony Bennett (Washington State, 2007), Ben Howland (UCLA, 2006), Tubby Smith (Kentucky, 2005) Phil Martelli (St. Joseph’s, 2004) and Mark Slonaker (Mercer, 2003).
So, that’s nice.
Marshall is looking for a new head coach. They have been very busy interviewing many. Including Assitant Coach Tom Herrion.
A head coach at the College of Charleston from 2002-06, Herrion was 80-35. He just concluded his second season as Coach Jamie Dixon’s top assistant at Pitt and previously was an assistant to Pete Gillen at Virginia and Providence.
Herrion, 42, was the Pitt coach who was hit in the face by a quarter thrown during a game this season at the WVU Coliseum. A brother, Bill Herrion, is the head coach at New Hampshire – and was the head coach at East Carolina while [Marshall AD Mike] Hamrick was the AD there, before he moved to UNLV.
What makes me nervous is how much sense this could make for Marshall.
Worth noting that Marshall lost their head coach to Central Florida, and the rumor mill down there is that UCF made the move to fire a head coach of 17 years because they are getting serious. Why? Because the belief is the Big East is going to beckon soon.
UCF Athletic Director Keith Tribble and UCF President John Hitt said they never mentioned a move to the Big East during interviews with candidates.
“No, those rumors were incorrect,” Tribble said. “It was never discussed.”
However, new UCF basketball coach Donnie Jones has not been shy talking about the Knights’ Big East potential.
“We have a chance down the road to maybe go to the Big East,” Jones said this week. “… This school has the ability with the students and obviously the commitment and facilities to put ourselves in a situation to make that next step.”
Football and basketball recruits have noted UCF’s Big East potential during interviews discussing their decision to either commit or sign letters of intent to play for the Knights.
Tribble has made it clear he wants UCF to be part of a conference with an automatic qualifying BCS bid, generating more revenue for UCF through shares of BCS game revenue and bigger conference television agreements.
So, maybe the Big East is finally reacting a little.
This year will be the final year for the SEC/Big East skirmish. Pitt is assuredly one of the teams from the Big East that will play. In a format that guarantees obscurity and low attendance, there are only 4 games each year played on two sites that are semi-neutral.
Well, the SEC is in favor of extending, improving and expanding the thing.
The ACC/Big Ten Challenge, created in 1999, has been the biggest success among series of this kind, pairing those leagues for 11 games annually on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. The games usually occur at home arenas rather than neutral sites.
“We know about the ACC/Big Ten format (for the SEC and Big East). Whether that’s the right format, I don’t know,” Slive said. “We may not change it. Those are sort of the extremes, and we’re talking with ESPN to see if we can do something to create more.”
Slive said discussions for an opposing conference “right now” are only with the Big East. All 12 SEC teams have played in the invitational; Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Seton Hall have yet to play for the 16-team Big East.
The Pac-10 and Big 12 have their own exchange, but it is spread out over a month, so it is largely ignored. The SEC-Big East is on back-to-back days, but it is so small a group it is also fairly irrelevant.
Let’s face it. The ideal approach is the ACC/Big 11. All the games are on campus courts. It is all over just a few days, so it gets a lot of attention and is easy to follow. Hopefully the 800 pound gorilla that is ESPN (who owns this invitational) will press the Big East to accept an expanded set-up.
Finally a piece on Gil Brown.
“I bided my time and earned my role with the team. It has been a great experience and everything played out for me.”
The potential is there for the Panthers to become a dangerous team next season, and Dixon knows exactly what he wants from Brown.
“He has focused on becoming more physical on drives to the basket,” Dixon said. “He is a better defender, but he can be a great defender. I hope this offseason will be a good one for him.”
Brown realizes what he needs to do in order to take that next step in becoming the all-around player the coaching staff envisions. The ball, sort of speak, is in his court.
“I felt I provided some leadership this season and I felt comfortable with that role,” Brown said. “I have to be more assertive [on the court] and be a better leader to become an elite player.”
And consistent. Definitely would like to see consistent.
